Your Smile
by Digidestined Dude 15
Summary: Natsu loves seeing Lisanna smiling. He hasn't seen it in over two years since she was pulled from Earthland into Edolas. Now that she's back, he'll give her the perfect Christmas present in order to see it. Slight OCC and Natsu tsundere warning. Also features LoLu, Cappy, Gruvia and GaLe. Christmas fic. Happy Holidays Minna! (PS: This story takes place in the dubbed version)


**Hey everyone, Digidestined Dude here with your annual Christmas story. I was so happy with the reviews and results from last year, and I wanted to write an even better story, so here it is! This is my first NaLi story – meaning Natsu x Lisanna – and it also features LoLu, Gruvia, GaLe, and Cappy (Loke x Lucy, Gray x Juvia, Gajeel and Levy, and Happy x Carla). This story is my gift to you, so I hope you enjoy it!**

**-x~X~x-**

Christmas time in Magnolia was always considered the most festive time of year, next to the Harvest Festival and Fantasia parade. The skies were filled with beautiful snowflakes, the tree in the South Gate Park was decorated like a Christmas tree, and everyone was just generally happy. This included a young fire wizard named Natsu.

Despite his elemental magic and personality, he loved the winter. He loved seeing all the smiling people of Magnolia, it made him want to do the same...

...Especially when he saw his friend, Lisanna smile. He couldn't explain it, but for some reason he just loved seeing Lisanna smile. There wasn't a greater pleasure in the world than seeing Lisanna smile at him in a good mood, especially since she returned from Edolas.

When she was thought to have died on that mission with Elfman and Mirajane, Natsu almost went insane. He would never get to see her smile at him again. He wasn't able to see her smiling in her final moments on Earthland. He spent weeks hidden away in his room, crying out every tear he had. Not even Happy could get him out of there.

And when he found out that the Lisanna from Edolas was really his Lisanna, he didn't think he'd been any happier in his life. Lisanna was his best friend and they grew up together over the five years they were in Fairy Tail together. There wasn't a single person in the world that understood Natsu better than Lisanna, except maybe Happy, and even that was a stretch.

Natsu had just finished an S-Class job with Erza and the others, and the reward split between them left each with 50,000 Jewels, and he planned to spend every Jewel he had on Lisanna's Christmas present if he had to. He didn't care if he had to go hungry until his next mission, as long as he got to see Lisanna smiling, he would be just fine.

Natsu walked down the Magnolia shopping district in search of the perfect present for Lisanna. Happy tagged along as well, hoping to get a present for Carla. They had checked out every store they found and so far they had nothing to show for it.

The two sighed.

"Aw man, why does this have to be so hard?" Natsu asked angrily. He resisted the urge to shoot a giant fireball into the air. "I'm just looking for one perfect present, is that really so much to ask!?"

"Apparently, yes," Happy said sarcastically. "Guess we better hope for a Christmas miracle, otherwise we may never get them."

"Get what?" a voice asked.

Natsu and Happy looked forward and saw Lucy standing before them. She was dressed in a red, Heart Kreuz jacket that went down to her thighs, a dark green skirt and a pair of black, knee-high boots. In her hand was a large shopping bag that appeared to contain a box.

"Oh, hey Lucy," Natsu said unenthusiastically.

Lucy's eyebrow twitched, but she shrugged it off. "So, who are you shopping for?" she asked.

Natsu looked away. "No one, mind your own business!" he muttered.

Lucy grinned. "Oh, I get it, your shopping for Lisanna right?" Natsu instantly blushed the second he heard Lisanna's name mentioned. Lucy laughed. "I knew it, you _are_ shopping for Lisanna. That's so cute, Natsu, I didn't think you were the kind of guy to put so much effort into shopping for girls."

Natsu continued to blush, letting his jaw go limp for a second. "Sh-Shut up! I just wanted to get something to welcome her back to Fairy Tail, that's it!"

Happy held back a laugh. "Natsu llllllllllllloves her!" he said, rolling his tongue for emphasis.

Natsu's head grew bright red out of embarrassment. "LIKE YOU CAN TALK!" he screamed.

Lucy laughed again. "Aw, look who's embarrassed," she cooed in a mocking voice.

"Leave me alone!" Natsu whined childishly.

Lucy laughed for another minute or so and then stopped to give Natsu a break. "Alright, I'm done... for now," she joked. Natsu huffed. "So, do you need a hand shopping? I've already got my present for Loke out of the way, so I can help you if you want."

"Huh? I thought Mira put you in charge of making cookies for the party tomorrow, shouldn't you be working on that?" Natsu asked.

Every year, on Christmas Day, Fairy Tail hosts a Christmas party at the guild and everyone does their gift exchanging then. The some of the wizards are volunteered to help make food for the party and others are in charge of decorating. Erza, Gray, Juvia, Lisanna and a few others were up at the guild, decorating now.

"Wendy's gonna drop by my house in an hour to help me make them, so I have time. Now, what kind of stuff does Lisanna like?"

Natsu pondered for a moment, resting his chin on his hand. "Well... She likes animals, I know that much... Oh, and I think she likes bracelets too. She likes silver ones a lot."

Lucy nodded. "So she likes animals and silver bracelets... I got it!" she exclaimed suddenly, snapping her fingers. "Follow me, I think I know something that's perfect." She took off running, leading Natsu and Happy to follow her.

The three of them ran – or in Happy's case, flew – down to the end of the shopping district, until they were standing outside a jewelry store. Lucy pointed through one if the display windows at a particular item that caught Natsu's eye. It was a silver charm bracelet with five charms attached to it. The four outermost charms were small, silver charms of four different animals: A Tiger, a Penguin, a Bird, and a Rabbit. The center charm was formed in the shape of a heart, which had a small, red gemstone at the center of it; it had plenty of room for an engraving.

Natsu eyed the bracelet like it was the single most important thing in the world. It was literally the perfect present for Lisanna: it was a silver bracelet and it had animals on it, animals that happened to by four of Lisanna's favourite Take-Over souls.

"Awesome! That's perfect for Lisanna!" Natsu shouted excitedly. "Thanks a million, Lucy, she'll love it!"

Lucy smiled. "I thought so. I saw it as I passed by a little while ago, and when you described what Lisanna likes I knew it'd be perfect for her. And Happy, if you still need help shopping for Carla, I happened to hear her say what she'd like. The store's on the way to my house so I'll take you there, too, if you want."

Happy blushed. "Aye sir! Lead the way!" he ordered. "I'll catch up with you at home, Natsu, later!" The exceed then sprouted its Aera wings and followed Lucy's lead.

Natsu continued to stare at the bracelet for another few minutes. He knew that if he gave that bracelet to Lisanna tomorrow, she'd be smiling all day. And that's exactly what he wanted. Seeing Lisanna smile was all he could ever want for Christmas.

After he quit imagining the look on Lisanna's face when she opened her present Christmas morning, he walked into the store and grabbed the bracelet from the display and rushed it to the register. Before paying for it, he had the shopkeeper engrave "To: Lisanna, Fr: Natsu" in the heart charm and placed in a small gift box. This was going to be his favourite Christmas ever, he just knew it.

-x~X~x-

"Fairy Christmas everybody!" Everyone in the guild shouted. It was December 25th, Christmas Day, and the guild's Christmas party was well underway. The guild was decorated to be very festive. There was a single, giant tree standing in the middle of the guild hall, decorated with many different decorations from everyone – most of them involving the guild's emblem – and at the top was a glowing, star-shaped Lacrima, as well as several others around the tree, all filled with the Master's light magic. The bar had been turned into a snack table, where cake, cookies and even hot chocolate rested, and Mirajane was busy handling any other drinks for the other members.

"Fairy Christmas to all!" Macao and Wakuba cheered.

"And to all a good drink!" Cana added, guzzling her barrel of booze soon after.

It was a Fairy Tail Christmas tradition that everyone in the guild say 'Fairy' when they mean 'Merry,' since the two sound so similar; it was designed to be a pun, and everyone went along with it, since it was actually the first master that started this tradition.

"Fairy Christmas, Levi!" Jet and Droy exclaimed as they presented two very large presents to Levi.

Said Mage could only sweat-drop. She didn't expect such large gifts from the other members of Team Shadow Gear. "Uh, thanks guys, you really didn't have to..." she said, somewhat stunned.

"Open mine first, Levi!" Jet insisted, shoving Droy slightly to the side.

Droy shoved Jet back. "No, open mine first!"

Soon, the two of them were in a shoving war, with Levi sitting on the side lines, sighing.

Suddenly, a light-blue gift bag was held up to Levi's face. She looked at the hand that was holding it and was surprised as to who it was. "Gajeel?"

Said Dragon Slayer huffed and looked away. "The Master said I had to give someone a gift, so I figured that I'd give one to you so we're even for that time I attacked you," he said, not even making any eye contact with her.

Levi, warmed by Gajeel's 'attempt' at kindness, accepted the bag, gratefully and opened it. She pulled out what was inside of it: a pink hairband with a yellow star ornament attached, and a book on ways to improve Script magic. It was exactly what she wanted.

Levi quickly removed her current hairband and placed the new one in her hair the same way. She turned around to face Gajeel with a cheerful smile. "Thanks Gajeel, its great!"

Gajeel left before Levi could notice the gentle blush creeping up on his cheeks. He walked past Jet and Droy, subtly smirking at the fact that they had tired themselves out and destroyed their presents for Levi all in one go.

"Open! Gate of the Lion! Loke!" Lucy chanted, swinging her Lion Key through the air. A magic circle appeared. Through it came Loke himself, dressed up in a Santa Claus outfit, minus the beard.

"Ho, ho, ho, Loke Claus is here to deliver presents to all the good little girls! All the boys were naughty, so they get nothing!" Loke said jokingly, making Lucy laugh. He held up a large sack to Lucy. "Here's some presents from Virgo and the others. It's some clothes from the spirit world, they all know how much you love them." He then reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "Oh, and this is also from Aquarius."

Lucy looked at the envelope curiously. "Really? Aquarius sent me a Christmas card?" she asked. She took the envelope from Loke and opened it, pulling out a Christmas card the picture of her and Scorpio on the front. She opened the card and read it aloud.

"Merry, Merry Christmas, may all your dreams come true..." was what was written on the first half of the card. She flinched when she saw the second half. "Don't summon me or Scorpio till New Year's or I will murder you!" Below the text was a chibi-drawing of Lucy with crosses in her eyes and Aquarius above her with an evil smirk. Lucy sighed, becoming slightly pale. "Yep, that's the Aquarius I know and fear..."

Loke laughed, pulling her close to him by the waist. "Don't worry, princess, I'll protect you from whatever comes after you, even Aquarius," he declared, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

Lucy smiled at her boyfriend, her cheeks growing red. She chuckled. "Thanks Loke." She leaned into his ear and grinned. "I'll give you your present later: It's catnip."

Loke purred softly. The Zodiac leader had a certain... obsession when it catnip. It might have been because of the fact he was part Lion – which was somewhat like a cat – or just a personal thing, but he couldn't help but act like a newborn kitten when it came to Catnip. Lucy was the only one that knew about Loke's secret fetish, and she took full advantage of it when she could, because Loke got _very _affectionate around catnip, even more so if Lucy rubbed a bit of it on her skin or placed some in her clothes. It certainly made for a rough time at night.

"Thank you, Lucy." The lion reached into his sack and pulled out a jewelry box and presented it to Lucy. "This is my present for you. Fairy Christmas, my lovely Princess."

Lucy took the box and opened it, gasping at what it was. It was a golden charm necklace. At the center was a silver star with a golden rim, and at either side of it was the signs of the twelve zodiacs engraved on small, silver charms. She also saw that her Zodiac sign – Cancer – and Loke's sign – Leo – were one after the other directly on either side of the star.

"Loke, it's beautiful!" Lucy exclaimed happily. She spun around and lifted her hair out of the way, exposing her neck. "Can you put it on me?"

Loke nodded. "It would be my pleasure." He took the necklace from the box and reached around Lucy's neck and wrapped the necklace around her neck. When he was done, he spun her around and smiled at her. "You look beautiful, Lucy."

Lucy blushed harder. "Really?"

Loke smiled brighter. "Really, and it has nothing to do with the necklace, it's all you. You're beautiful with or without it."

Lucy leaned in and gave Loke a chaste on the lips. "Thanks a lot, Captain Kiss-up," she said jokingly. The two of them laughed together before sharing a warm hug.

"My beloved Gray!" Juvia said excitedly, startling the Ice Mage. She handed him a present with a large smile on her face. "This gift is for you, I hope you love it!"

Gray cautiously accepted it. He knew of Juvia's obsessive feelings for him, and quite frankly he had no idea what she was capable of when it came to gifts. For all he knew, it could be some trap that would explode the second it was opened and incapacitate him, leaving him a sitting duck for Juvia, and that wasn't something he would be comfortable with.

Despite his fears, Gray decided to open it. If not, Juvia would get upset and she'd flood the guild hall with her tears and ruin the party... Also, if it was the trap option, there were plenty of witnesses for a court of law.

He undid the ribbon and ripped open the blue wrapping paper. When he opened the box, he was surprised to see what it was: a brown-covered book with the letters UR engraved in bottom right corner. It had a lock over the cover, preventing anyone from reading it. "It... It's Ur's Magic Journal..." he said, astounded. "But I thought that this was stolen."

When Gray was still training under Ur with Lyon, their cabin was attacked by a group of rogue bandits that wanted Ur's journal. It contained a copy of every Ice Make spell she'd ever learned and came up with - including Iced Shell - and considering that she was eligible to be a Wizard Saint at the time, it was quite valuable. The bandits used strong fire magic. Strong enough that it melted everything that Ur threw at them, making taking the journal an easy task.

Ever since that day, Gray wanted to get back the Journal for Ur, but he gave up on it when Ur died. He didn't think that finding it would be any use now, because he never found the key to it. He also felt that, since it was his fault that Ur used Iced Shell to save him, he wasn't worthy of learning her most powerful spells.

Juvia nodded. "I found it in a black market on the other side of Magnolia," she replied. "The guy I bought it from said that no one could ever open it because there was a sealing spell placed on the lock and no one could break it or get around it. It cost me a lot just to get it, but I figured that you would have a clue on how to open it because you were her student. I also thought that it would be very sentimental to you, since she was your teacher, after all, and she sure did a great job."

Gray just stared a Juvia for a moment. He couldn't believe that Juvia went to these lengths to find his teachers long-lost journal. She didn't get him something that would benefit herself - like he first anticipated - and instead got something that was invaluable to him, even at her expense...

He couldn't believe that he doubted her like that. And what's worse is that he never even got her a present. He spent his money getting presents for Erza and the others and completely forgot about Juvia.

"Juvia, thank you... You have no idea how valuable this is to me..." Gray said, holding the book close to his chest.

Suddenly, the lock began to glow a bright-blue light, startling both Gray and Juvia. Gray held the book facing him and touched the lock. A small Ice Make magic circle appeared over the lock and then shattered. The lock then popped open and fell off the book and into Gray's hand.

"Gray, maybe that the seal was made so that only an Ice wizard, like you, could open it," Juvia suggested.

Gray shook his head. "No, this journal has been gone for years now, an Ice wizard would have come across it at some point... I think it was meant so that only Lyon or I could open it. She always told us that, when we finished our training, she would give us her journal to learn her most powerful spells... Since the journal was stolen and Ur died, I thought I would never learn them... Now I'm not sure if I should even open it."

Juvia smiled, letting her cheeks be painted red. "Well, maybe this is a sign that you should, Gray. Your old teacher's journal being given to you on the winter's most special holiday... If you want my opinion, I think you were meant to use Ur's magic, so you should open it."

Gray pondered for a moment, but then smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right Juvia... But first..." The Mage raised his hand into the air, making a magic circle. "Ice Make: Mistletoe!" A very thin beam of ice shot down from the ceiling, over Gray and Juvia, and at the base sprouted an piece of ice in the shape of a mistletoe. Before Juvia could register what was going on, Gray had quickly leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

When they separated, Gray looked Juvia in the eye - that latter was bright red and quite literally steaming. "That was for an _awesome _Christmas present," he said smoothly. Gray sweat-dropped, however, when Juvia had suddenly passed out on the floor with the same goofy expression on her face she had on the day they met - hearts in her eyes and mouth wide open. Gray couldn't help but laugh.

Happy carried his present for Carla over to where she and Pantherlily were conversing over his present. Gajeel had apparently gotten Lily a new magic sword for Christmas to replace the one from Edolas that was destroyed in their fight, and the black Exceed had it in his hand and held it proudly.

The sword had a red blade with silver edges and near the base of the sword the design of a white musical note, and just below that was three sort of demon claw decorations. The handle of the sword was brown and had a white knob at the end of it.

Happy dragged a box that was roughly the size of him across the floor, and then called out Carla's name repeatedly until she finally walked up to him.

"What is it, Happy?" Carla asked, a hint of her usual annoyance for Happy in her voice.

Happy took a knee, trying to regain his breath from carrying the - in his case - heavy box across the room. "Fairy... Christmas... Carla!" he said in between heavy pants. "Lucy... helped me... pick it out for you... I hope you like it... 'cause I'm beat just from getting it here!"

Carla unwrapped the ribbon around the box and opened the lid. She pulled out what was inside, a look of surprise on her face. It was a pink mallet, roughly the size of her. Both the rims had jewels embedded around them, and the face of the hammer had the design of a heart on it.

"And why on Earthland would you get me this thing?" Carla asked.

Happy twiddled his paws together, finally regaining his breath. "So you can vent..." he said shyly.

"What?"

"Well, I know you probably get annoyed by me a lot, so Lucy suggested I get that mallet for you so you can take out your frustration on me. Anytime you feel that I'm bugging you, you can hit me with that mallet and I'll shut up..." A tiny bit of red could be seen through his blue fur. He stood up and turned around, his back facing Carla. "I'm really sorry that I bug you so much, it's just that you're just so beautiful it's hard to control myself when I'm around you... So, go ahead, I won't stop you."

Carla only smiled. And not a devilish smile that one would assume be the beginning of Happy being hammered into the floor, a normal, amused smile. "Tom-cat, you really are something aren't you..." she said.

Happy turned his head around, not understanding why it didn't have a large bump on top of it. "What?"

"You really think I'm the kind of cat that would resort to violence as means of expression? When have I ever exhibited any signs that I possess a nature like that? That's Natsu!"

Happy flinched. Carla had a point, she wasn't like that at all. She couldn't remember the last time he saw her so much as hit anyone... He should have just gone with a fish instead.

"I hate you, Lucy!" Happy screamed, embarrassedly.

Lucy was watching from the other side if the room with a slight look of depression. She wanted to see Happy get hit on the head with that mallet to make up for all the times he made fun of her me her love life – or, according to him, lack thereof. When he got hit with it, she planned to run over and say "How's that for love-struck, huh cat?" But this was still a sweet moment for the two Exceeds and it made her smile.

Carla chuckled. She held the hammer up, admiring the detail and beauty that went into it. "Well, I guess that this could be put to use in a fight, and I could use it to protect Wendy, so I accept. Fairy Christmas, Tom-cat," she said, holding out her paw.

Happy paused his thought of letting loose a bunch of rats in Lucy's house and looked excitedly at Carla. "Really, Carla? You like it!?"

Carla's eyes lowered. "Don't read too much into this. I'm only saying that this gift isn't horrible. Now, do you want the paw-shake or not?"

Happy jumped up from the ground and instantly took hold of her paw, shaking it up and down. "Thanks a lot, Carla!" he said. He suddenly gained a sly grin. "So... Wanna go check out that mistle- GAH!" The blue exceed was then knocked out by an aggravated Carla, using the very mallet she received. In the background, you could silently hear Lucy cheering and doing a subtle victory dance.

The female exceed gave the mallet a curious and entertained look as she lifted it from Happy's skull. "Maybe I _will_ use this more often than I anticipated," she said, taking the head her mallet, as well as the bow used to contain it, and tying it around her back - much like what Lily had done with his sword. "Thanks, Tom-cat."

Natsu looked through the crowd of people, trying to find Lisanna and give her his present. He was having difficulty doing so, though. Ever since so many new wizards had joined the guild as of late, he'd had difficulty just keeping track of his team mates movements, let alone his favourite take-over Mage.

"Lisanna!" he called out. "Hey, Lisanna, where are you?"

As Natsu continued to plow through the many Fairy Tail wizards he bumped into Mirajane. She was carrying a tray of drinks at the moment, and she almost dropped them but quickly regained her balance. She sighed in relief and turned to face Natsu. "Careful, Natsu, I almost dropped these," she said in a lecturing tone.

Natsu scratched the back of his head, awkwardly. "Sorry 'bout that..." he said. Just then, an idea came to him: Maybe she knew where she was. "Hey Mira, do you know where Lisanna is? I can't find her anywhere."

Mirajane giggled. "Why? Looking to give her a special Christmas present?" she asked teasingly, earning her just the blushing-glare from the Dragon Slayer that she expected, as well as the obvious stance of hiding something behind his back. "I saw her over by the bar. I think Elfman was with her."

Natsu's blush lightened up slightly and he nodded. "Thanks a lot, Fairy Christmas Mira!" he said, running as fast as he could for the bar.

Mirajane giggled once more. "Good luck, Natsu."

Natsu plowed through the dozens of people between him and the drink bar. He was going to give Lisanna her bracelet if he had to destroy everything in his path. That much he was certain of.

When he finally got close to the drink bar, he could see a familiar white head of hair talking to her older brother. There she was, Lisanna was standing right there in front of him. She was wearing a white, hooded sweater with a matching skirt and boots. The hood was placed over her head and had large, floppy ear-like decorations sewn into it, giving her the appearance of an adorable snow rabbit - and, in Natsu's opinion, emphasis on the word "Adorable," because it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen her wear.

Natsu could just make out what Lisanna and Elfman were saying from where he was.

"Thanks a lot, big brother, I love it!" Lisanna said, twirling around in a circle. As she did, Natsu couldn't help but notice a large, white cotton ball attached to the base of her sweater, making it seem as if she had a rabbit's tail. It only made her that much cuter.

"I knew you'd like it, Lisanna, because part of being a man if being able to get the right gifts for women!" Elfman exclaimed, grinning like he won the lottery. Natsu had a slight sweat-drop. Elfman just couldn't have a conversation without using the word "man" in it, somehow, could he? "Oh, that reminds me, I still have to give your sister her present and I know she'll just love her new Magic Nail Decorator!" Elfman took a second box next to him and walked off to find his older sister.

Natsu snapped out of his cute daze and grinned confidently. "Now's my chance... Hey, Lisanna!" he called out.

Lisanna turned to face him with a smile. "Hey, Natsu, Fairy Christmas!" she said happily. "What do you think of the snow bunny outfit Big Brother Elf got me? Cute, huh?" The Animal Take-Over Mage batted her eyes cutely with her hands bawled up in front of her mouth.

Natsu blushed heavily. "Kn-Knock it off! Like I give a crap if you look cute or not..." he lied. He thought Lisanna looked absolutely adorable in that get-up, but he just couldn't say it. His mouth wouldn't let him. Also, with his luck, if he did say that, Lisanna and Lucy would taunt him forever. He simply held up the present with one hand while tucking away his reddening face in his scarf with the other. "Look, I just came to give you your Christmas present, not to gush over how cute you are."

Lisanna giggled. "Oh, so you _do_ think I'm cute, huh Natsu?" She watched with a grin as the Dragon Slayer's face grew even redder. "Aw, look who's all embarrassed now. You're such a Tsundere, Natsu, ha ha!"

Natsu's mouth almost dropped off the hinges of his face when he heard that. Lisanna thought he was a Tsundere? Like hell, he was! He was nothing like that shy, black, pretty-boy from Blue Pegasus!

"I'M NOT A TSUNDERE!" Natsu screamed childishly, loud enough that a few surrounding people that heard him couldn't help but laugh, Lisanna included. Natsu felt so embarrassed that he could literally feel his face spewing flames.

"Oh man, I missed that sense of humor of yours, Natsu," Lisanna managed to stutter out while cackling like it was the first time she'd ever done it.

Natsu quickly suppressed his flames and glared irritably at Lisanna. "Do you want the damned gift or not?! If you're gonna keep makin' fun of me then I'll just take it back!" He seriously hoped she actually _did _take the gift, because the bracelet wasn't returnable.

Lisanna stopped laughing long enough to catch her breath. "I-I'm done, really." The white-haired Mage took the box from Natsu's hand and began to unwrap it.

Natsu watched anxiously as Lisanna slowly removed the ribbon from the box, as if trying to make Natsu sweat. She ever so slowly ripped the white wrapping paper from the box and let it hit the floor. Lisanna give the box a curious look when she realized it was a jewelry box. She opened it up and made a peculiar face at the bracelet. "Huh? What's this?" she asked, holding up the bracelet in one hand.

Natsu huffed, glancing away at every direction that wasn't Lisanna. "W-Well, I know how much you love animals, and silver stuff, so-"

"I love you!"

Natsu froze when he heard Lisanna speak. Did Lisanna just say what he thought she said? "What... What did you say?"

Lisanna smiled happily. "I said I love it, it's exactly what I wanted!" she said happily. She took the bracelet from the box and pulled up her sleeve to wrap it around her wrist. When she finished, she held it up to the light, admiring how beautiful it was. "Thanks a lot, Natsu, it's really pretty!"

Natsu's eyebrow twitched. He faked a smile, trying to repress the immense flow of blood to his cheeks. "No-No problem, glad you like it..." he stuttered.

There it was. That was the smile Natsu was hoping for. The smile he waited for over 2 years to finally see, and he couldn't get enough of it... However, he couldn't focus on the smile, because the last three words he thought he had just heard.

Why did he confuse 'in' with 'you' when Lisanna spoke to him? Was it that he wanted to hear her say 'I love you' so bad that his mind had played a trick on him and made him think that was what he heard? Well, even he couldn't deny that his IQ wasn't very high compared to everyone in Fairy Tail... or Magnolia... or even all of Fiore for that matter, so it wouldn't be that hard for him to confuse what someone said with what he wanted to hear... It probably explained why he kept hearing Lucy say that he could sleep in her bed while she simultaneously tugs him by the scarf and kicks him out the door.

Lisanna poked Natsu on the forehead, pulling him away from the debate in his head on whether Happy had a higher IQ than him or not. "Natsu... Natsu, hello, are you there?" Lisanna asked teasingly.

Natsu shook his head quickly to clear his mind quickly and nodded. "Yeah, I'm here."

Lisanna giggled. "Good, because now it's time for your Christmas present, come with me." Without any sort of warning, Lisanna grabbed hold of Natsu's hand and started running for the door. This action took Natsu by surprise, mostly because he hadn't held Lisanna's hand since she returned to Earthland and he'd forgotten just how delicate and smooth her palms could be. It was nice against his rough, ragged... admittedly sweaty hands.

Lisanna made Natsu tie his scarf around his eyes as soon as they exited the guild so her present could be a surprise. Wherever she was leading him, she had her arm looped around his, and Natsu thanked the Gods that his scarf was also covering his cheeks.

After some time of walking, Lisanna said that it was alright for Natsu to take his scarf off from his eyes. He did so, and when he saw what was in front of him, he couldn't help but smile. It was the hut that Lisanna built for them when they hatched and raised Happy. It was some of his favourite memories of when they were children.

Every day, they would go out into the forest and play with Happy. They would play hide and seek, catch, and even tag – although Natsu usually lost, because Lisanna and Happy would fly too high to tag them, but he still had fun with them. And at night, the three of them would sleep together, huddled under the same blanket with Happy in between the two of them.

After they were around 12 or 13 years old, they stopped coming to the hut because they were getting too big for it, but they stopped by once in a while for a trip down memory lane. After Lisanna disappeared, however, Natsu couldn't bear to return there because it hurt him every time he thought of Lisanna's smile, and to think of the place where Lisanna smiled the most was just too much for him to withstand.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Natsu asked.

Lisanna nodded. "I missed this place a lot," she stated. "I would remember the two of us playing and sleeping with Happy up here every night when I was in Edolas. I thought that I'd never see it again, because its where he two of us really became close friends... I missed you a lot, Natsu, you and Happy."

Natsu flinched. His cheeks began to grow red once more, but he still smiled. "I missed you too, Lisanna."

Lisanna giggled and tugged on his arm. "Well, come on, I didn't bring you up here just to look at it, let's go inside." Natsu nodded, letting her lead the way into the hut. Just as they were about to reach the entrance, Natsu tripped over something in the snow and fell flat on his face. Lisanna chuckled. "Man, you're just as clumsy as ever, Natsu!"

Natsu stood up from the snow, letting the heat of his skin melt the snow off of his body. "I'm not clumsy, I just tripped over something!" he yelled. Suddenly, he had an idea of what it was he tripped over, and started digging around where he tripped. He kept digging until he dug out what he expected to find: A grey tombstone.

Lisanna looked at the tomb stone curiously as she watched Natsu brush off all of the snow. It had the guild's emblem and her name engraved in it. "Why is that up here? I thought Mirajane and Big Brother Elf made my tomb stone at the church."

Natsu nodded, holding the stone with a tight grip. "They did, but I put one up here as well... I knew how much you loved watching the sunset up here, so I figured that, you know, you'd want to see it every day, even if I couldn't be there with you." He remembered just how much it pained him to have that stone made and then place it up here. He felt like just destroying the thing here and now... And at the same time, he couldn't bear to let anything happen to it.

Lisanna smiled, a blush showing on her cheeks. "Aw, thank Natsu, that's really sweet." She gasped, however, when she saw tears fall, one by one, and splash on the tomb stone. Those tears were coming from Natsu, and they were coming down in buckets.

"It hurt so much... not having you in my life anymore..." he mumbled, trying not to sound choked from all the crying. "You don't know what it's like... You have no idea what it feels like to think you're best friend is dead, Lisanna... it hurts a lot..." He looked up at Lisanna, showing him the rivers of tears flowing from his eyes. She'd never seen him so upset.

Lisanna gave him a warm smile. "Hey, don't go crying, Natsu. Today's a special day, you're not allowed crying on special days, guild rules." She knelt down and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Come on now, I have a surprise waiting for you inside. And you can't cry when you come in, or else the surprise is ruined, ok?"

Natsu tried desperately to wipe away the tears from his face, but they just wouldn't stop. "Who's crying? Something just got in my eye..." he muttered, embarrassedly.

Lisanna giggled. "Alright, well, get whatever's in your eye out and meet me inside." She let go of Natsu and stood up and went inside the hut.

Natsu spent a few minutes trying to stop crying. This wasn't like him, not to cry - or at least not this much. He just couldn't help letting all those tears out in one go. It was like all the sadness from the last 2 years without Lisanna had just overflowed and came out at once when he held the tombstone in his hands - which was now sitting against the side of the hut.

However, he still felt happy because, now, Lisanna was back in Fairy Tail, and he would make sure to protect her from anything that would try to take her away from him. Lisanna was just too important to let go of a second time. His best friend was here to stay, and he'd make sure of it.

After he finally stopped crying, Natsu wiped sway as much of the tears as he could and went to go join Lisanna in the hut. It was still a bit small for them, but as long as they huddled close together they could fit inside, and Natsu certainly didn't mind doing that.

He poked his head through the entrance of the hut, smiling once again when he saw Lisanna sitting on the pile of hay, doing the same.

"Welcome home, dear," she said lovingly.

Natsu chuckled. "Hi, honey, I'm home," he replied.

He and Lisanna would do that little routine whenever they'd come up to play I the hut, and then they'd have a good laugh over it. Happy, for a time, was actually convinced Natsu and Lisanna were really married because of it.

Natsu took a seat next to Lisanna and looked her in the eye. "So, what's my surprise?" he asked.

Lisanna giggled. "Look up."

Natsu tilted his head to the side and gave a confused look, but did as he was told and looked upward. When he did so, his body went into shock.

Hanging from the roof of the hut was a small bundle of mistletoe. It wasn't fake, it was an actual piece of real mistletoe as well. It's as if it had grown on its own right through the roof. And more on, it was hanging directly over the Lisanna and Natsu.

The former blushed madly, pointing at the plant dangling by a vine above him. "W-What's that d-doing here?" Natsu stuttered.

Lisanna grinned. "I had Droy plant it last night. I was going to buy a fake one, but I thought a real one seemed more special."

Natsu's eyebrow twitched. "Y-You... You did this?"

Lisanna jokingly flicked him in the forehead. "No, I said Droy did it. Pay attention, dummy!" she said, laughing. "Now, you know the tradition, so..." She closed her eyes, puckered her lips and moved her head closer and closer towards Natsu.

The dragon slayer, on the other hand, was frozen on the spot... and not just because he was sitting in a pile of snowy hay. This had to be a dream. There was no way that Lisanna was leaning in to kiss him. Sure, Lisanna was always – literally ALWAYS – saying that they should get married, etc. when they grew up, but she would always say it was a joke. She didn't really mean it, did she?

After a minute or so of puckering her lips, Lisanna opened her eyes to see why Natsu wasn't kissing her. "Natsu, why aren't you kissing me? It's a Christmas tradition..."

"Why?" was Natsu's only reply.

"What?"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to kiss me?" he muttered angrily. "We messed around and played when we were kids, sure, but that's it! It was just a game! So why would you do this? Huh? Don't you remember?"

Lisanna pulled away from Natsu and looked down at her lap, a somewhat saddened look on her face. "Yeah, I remember... Do you wanna know what I found out about myself when I was in Edolas?" Natsu didn't respond, but Lisanna decided to go on anyway. "When I first arrived in Edolas and became part of their Fairy Tail, I met Edolas' Natsu. He was shy, easily scared, and the complete opposite of you. But I was still close to him because he looked so much like you. And when I realized that, even though you two look so much alike and you're not the same person, I started to list all the things that were different between you two. You were brave, you were heroic, you made me feel safe, and you always made me smile... and then I realized: those are all the things I missed you, Natsu, and they were all the things that... I love about you."

Natsu felt his heart skip a beat. Lisanna just said that all the things about him were what she loved about him... He couldn't possibly have misheard that… otherwise he would _seriously_ need to get his ears checked.

Lisanna huddled her knees closer to her chest. "And when I found out that I loved all those things about you, I realized... I love you. I love you, Natsu Dragneel."

This time, Natsu KNEW he wasn't hearing things. "Lisanna..."

Before he could even say anything, Natsu was tackled to the ground by Lisanna. Her lips were pressed to his, and her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck. Natsu didn't know what on Earthland was going on, but he wasn't going to object. This was his first kiss, and he was glad that it was Lisanna giving it to him. So, he played into it. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He felt the cotton of Lisanna's sweater rubbing softly against his over-exposed chest. He could just barely hear her heart beating, and it was beating at a very fast pace, as was his own. He wasn't surprised, at all. He was losing his breath fast from kissing Lisanna, and he could tell she was finding it hard to breathe as well. But neither side was showed any signs of stopping. They were both having the time of their lives, and the two wanted to savour every second of it.

Finally, Lisanna and Natsu couldn't take the lack of oxygen anymore and they separated. The two wizards were breathing heavily, and their faces were flushed. Their breathing patterns were almost identical. They were looking up and down at one another, smiling as if they had just won the lottery.

Natsu smirked, still breathing heavily. "Someone's... a good kisser..." he said in between pants.

Lisanna panted and smirked right back. "You're... not so bad... yourself..."

Once the two of them say upright and regained their breath, they couldn't help but laugh. That was the best Christmas present either of them could have gotten, and it just made them laugh like it was the first time ever.

Lisanna leaned into Natsu and rested her head on his shoulder. "I was serious you know, I really do love you, Natsu..."

Natsu grinned and slung his arm over Lisanna's shoulder, grinning. "Well, that's good then, 'cause I love you too... Honey."

The two of them had another good laugh and cuddled into one another. This was, by far, the best Christmas for the both of them. Not only was it because it was the first Christmas since Lisanna had returned from Edolas, but it was the making of a beautiful relationship between the Dragon Slayer and Take-Over Mage... Of course, consequently, it gave Lucy and Happy a lot of teasing material to work with, and Lisanna's "Tsundere-Natsu" joke stuck on him with everyone else at the guild.


End file.
